Muslim Rituals,
Practices and Social Problems
in Ontario

By: Abdullah Hakim Quick

"The growth in the South Asian Muslim population in
Metropolitan Toronto has lead to an inevitable growth in their
attendance at the mosques. The mosques promote the identity and
security of South Asian Muslims in an alien environment. The
author, who is leader of a mosque in Toronto with a large South
Asian constituency, describes his dual function as a religious
guide and a social counsellor. The latter role involves resolving
disputes, including those between generations in South Asian
immigrant families."
"South Asian Muslim Migration to Ontario"

In 1982 there were about 120,000 Muslims in Canada-roughly 0.5 per
cent of the total population. About 40,000 were of Arabic origin,
and 40,000 originated from countries like Pakistan, India,
Bangladesh, South Africa, Guyana, Trinidad, and Fiji. About 20,000
were from Yugoslavia and Albania and the remaining 620,000 of
diverse backgrounds, including local converts. In Metro Toronto
alone, Muslims are now estimated to surpass 100,000.1

South Asian Muslims began migrating to Canada in small numbers in
the l950s. They came from India, Pakistan, South Africa, Fiji,
Kenya, Mauritius, England, and the Caribbean region and they
carried with them a common bond of South Asian Islam-a mixture of
the Hanifi School of Islamic jurisprudence and Indian culture and
customs. Their intention was to advance economically,
educationally, and socially. They hoped to escape poverty and
political repression and acquire the material benefits available
in North America.

The first significant migration from India and Pakistan occurred
in the early sixties. In 1964 the Canadian government through its
embassy in Pakistan, published a series of advertisements for job
opportunities and training in Canada. A number of promising young
men responded to this offer and emigrated to Canada. They were met
at the airport in a very cordial manner, and given spending money
and a three-month visa.2 The majority of the new immigrants from
Pakistan and India were doctors, lawyers, dentists, engineers and
other professionals. Their South Asian degrees were not
recognized, however, and consequently, they were forced to
requalify in Canada in their own field or take up a new area of
concentration. These young men were culturally isolated and since
they were accustomed to a society of extended families and fixed
cultural norms, they tended to become either totally submerged and
lost in a new "Canadian identity" or socially alienated and
withdrawn into their own
personal lives.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s they were able to send for their
wives and children. This new addition to South Asian Muslim
society was crucial in stimulating Islamic cultural and social
growth. The presence of family meant that the isolated male
individual, who created his own "island," had to seek out Muslim
community life in order to set up his home, raise his children,
and satisfy his family's social and religious needs.

The seventies and eighties brought a larger immigration of
students and working class people, many of them related to the
established immigrants. Now South Asian Muslim society in Ontario
was more complete, for people from all classes were represented
and with them came representatives of their religious persuasions
and political leanings.

The South Asian Muslim immigrant, although highly adaptable to
Canada because of prior knowledge of the English language and
British customs, is only now beginning to feel at home in Ontario.
One of the chief factors which contributes to this alienation is
that Islam is a way of life which affects its adherents not only
spiritually but socially as well. The observance of Eid, the
birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him (p.b.u.h.),
the fasting month of Ramadan, and other religious occasions
require group participation. South Asians had been accustomed to
whole villages and provinces fasting together and breaking their
fast at sunset. Most people of other ethnic or religious
backgrounds do not understand
Islamic customs and tend to misrepresent Islamic traditions.

Early Support Systems for Coping with Isolation

Being a South Asian Muslim in the sixties and seventies in Ontario
forced the individual to develop a dual personality. Out side of
the home he or she was very much a part of Canadian society,
adopting most of the recognized customs. Inside the home, the
South Asian Muslim family constructed an environment similar to
that of India and Pakistan. A type of "cocoon" was developed where
the visitor, on entering the Muslim home, would be enveloped by
the smells, sounds, and sights of home life in South Asia.
Relationships were also the same, in that the South Asian man
expected to be the absolute ruler of his home and his children
were expected to be quiet and submissive.

This obvious contradiction has led to tension, division, and often
violence in the home. In Canada the South Asian Muslim woman, for
example, could not bear all the responsibilities of the household
for economic pressures forced her out of her home and into the
workforce. Contact with feminists also affected her outlook on the
role of the husband and father.(3) Fatigue, depression, and
misunderstanding have combined with cultural isolation and
resulted in a very high percentage of family feuds and broken
homes. Consequently, children growing up with this tension have
inherited a disillusioned outlook on their family, culture, and
religion.4

In the face of mounting social problems, South Asian Muslims
turned to respected elders within their communities and increased
their development of religious institutions. From the 1960s,
mosques and Islamic centres were established in church basements,
rented apartments, and small buildings. In 1967 Friday prayer was
established at Hart House at the University of Toronto. By 1969 an
abandoned church was converted into the Jami Mosque and regular
prayers were being said throughout Metro Toronto and Ontario. With
the establishment of the Mosque came the establishment of funeral
services ("janazah"), official Islamic marriage ceremonies,
organized Eid prayers and celebrations, birth ceremonies
("aqeeqah"), and family counselling. Imams and Quran teachers were
recruited from South Asia and the Middle East. The imam, who in
many Muslim countries is consulted on spiritual matters alone, was
forced to counsel the families in cases of violence,5 teenage
delinquency, and mental illness. He would visit homes, address
public gatherings, and give sermons in the mosque. The mosque or
Islamic centre, consequently, became the "second cocoon"
sheltering the South Asian Muslims from the ills of Canadian
society and accepting them when they could not cope with the
pressures of the twentieth century.

The Eighties and Nineties

The eighties have witnessed a new phase for the South Asian Muslim
community. Thousands of Muslims have entered Canada, and the sense
of security for the established immigrants, coupled with a better
understanding of the laws and rights of citizens, has enabled the
Muslim community to enter the mainstream of Canadian life and
begin demanding recognition and benefits. The South Asian Muslim
community has been at the forefront: it has established television
and radio programs, opened cultural centres, demanded civil and
human rights, and established mosques and Islamic centres. In 1989
attendance at the two largest "Eid-ul-fitr" (festival of fast
breaking) gatherings reached twenty thousand. This was one of the
largest public Islamic gatherings in North America! Planning is
now in progress for the establishment of Islamic social
organizations designed to bring together the expertise of
professionals and religious scholars. South Asian doctors,
lawyers, accountants, and social workers are at the forefront of
this move to address the growth of family problems by using the
best of both worlds.

The younger generation, having grown up in Canada while being
partially sheltered in the two "cocoons," has begun rejecting
arranged marriages, typical South Asian households,6 South Asian
dress, and South Asian expressions and mannerisms. Some have
returned to their faith, however, in a sort of Middle
Eastern-North American-South Asian blend of dress and expression.
Others have opted for Canadian life and have developed an agnostic
approach to theology. Given these changes, the nineties will be a
very challenging era for South Asian Muslims in Ontario, as they
struggle for acceptance and recognition. A few are planning to
return home and re-submerge themselves in their original culture;
most of those who remain are unwilling to be dissolved in the
melting pot of the West.

Abdullah Hakim Quick is the Imam of the Jami Mosque in
Toronto and a doctoral student in the Department of History,
University of Toronto.

Footnotes:

1. See Kettani (1969), 207.

2. Taken from the oral testimony of Yasin Siddiqi who migrated
from Pakistan in
1964.

3. Case study: The author has been Imam of the Jami Mosque of
Toronto for the last
five years. In an oft-repeated scenario the man and his wife
arrive home from work
at the same time. He takes off his coat and expects to be
immediately served and
fed a nicely prepared meal. When his wife says that she is tired
and would like
him to help with the dinner, he responds with frustration and
often violence. This
has frequently led to divorce or a divided household. The South
Asian woman,
because of social expectations and stigma, often ends up losing
her respect, her
family, and sometimes her sanity.

4. Taken from the oral testimony of Rahmath Shah, one of the
senior members
of Toronto's Muslim community, October 4, 1989.

5. Case study from the files of the author: A frantic Pakistani
mother called the Jami
Mosque complaining of her daughter being taken away by a
Pakistani
Christian. I summoned the mother, the daughter, and the young man
to the Jami
Mosque. He was a young businessman from a second-generation
Christian family
from Karachi, Pakistan. I spoke very openly to the couple and
found that they
had attended the same boarding school and as South Asians in a
hostile
environment had fallen in love. His family wanted the girl to
accept Christianity, and
the girl's family wanted him to accept Islam. The couple,
therefore, decided to elope and practise their own religion. She
complained of seeing her father frequently argue with her mother
and of never witnessing any aspect of her faith till now. On
interviewing the young man I found that he had no respect for
Islam and wanted to raise his children as Christians. This newly
found reality and the strong emotional pull of the girl's mother,
who threatened suicide, eventually caused the young lady
to cancel the marriage arrangements (Spring, 1987).

6. Case Study from the files of the author: In the fall of 1988, a
young Pakistani girl asked me to meet with her mother and her
intended husband, a young "Rajput" Hindu. The mother cried openly
and called for an application of "Shariah." The daughter blamed
the parents for not observing "Shariah" themselves. The father, on
hearing of the young lady's intentions, beat his wife and his
daughter and left home. I spoke openly to the young man about
Islam and its requirements. He was interested in hearing more and
said,"Nobody has ever even asked me whether I was interested or
respected your faith."

The couple was very young, and in order to understand Islam more
and not to totally upset the mother, they have put off their
marriage plans temporarily. Many other couples, not usually
reported about at the mosque, have opted for marriage and in many
cases isolation from the Muslim community.

References and Further Reading:

Barclay, H. B., "The Perpetuation of Muslim Traditions in the
Canadian North." In
"Muslim World", vol. LIX, no.66.